By Arfang M.S. Camara
The Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank) were on Saturday crowned champions of the Late Governor Famara Jatta’s Inter-Banks Football tournament after defeating the First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) 3-0 in the final played at the Independence Stadium in Bakau.
John Jainer opened the scoring for the GTBank side in the 9th minute of the game, before Momodou Mbowe doubled their lead in the 19th minute before going for the break.
Francis Mendy scored the third goal to make it a comfortable victory for the Guarantee Trust Bank team to be crowned champions of the 2022 edition of the Inter-Banks tournament which is named under the former Governor of the Central Bank of the Gambia.
Ousainou Njie, head coach of the Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank) expressed delight at winning the trophy for GTBank for the fourth time.
“I’ve been the coach for the Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank) for years now. I won the trophy for them almost three times and this is going to be the fourth time of winning it,” said head coach Ousainou Njie.
He continued: “Unfortunately for the past two to three years, I was not coaching the team until we won the trophy. So luckily I am back and we won the trophy again.”
According to him, they won convincingly in the final because they were more tactical than their opponent FBN Bank.
For his part, Musa Mbengeh, head coach of the First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) said though he is disappointed with the final result, but happy that they have achieved their goals in this year’s tournament by reaching the finals.
According to him, one of their problems for losing the final was the change to his game plan.
“I was denied by the organizing committee to play two of my players who are staff of the bank. This has changed my formation. Because those players are a permanent staff of the bank”
As winners, the Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank) were awarded a giant trophy and a cash prize of D75, 000, while the runners up, the First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) were given a consolation amount of D60, 000.
Meanwhile, eleven banks participated in this year’s Late Governor Famara Jatta’s Inter-Banks football tournament except two banks Standard Chartered Bank and Ecobank.
The aim of the tournament, according to the organisers, is to foster unity and create cordial relationships amongst banks and their staff.
